


A Matter of Perspective (Though the Veil)

by flowergrown



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Percy Weasley, Childhood Trauma, Found Family, Gen, Ghosts, I was bored and wrote a fic, No beta we die like Harry, Percy Weasley-centric, Violence, accidental adoption, being the forgotten child is hard, enjoy, meaning I'll be back on my bull in an hour or two, my bad - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowergrown/pseuds/flowergrown
Summary: Percy was a very quiet child.In the war, that was good. He was safe.After the war, it was weird. He would disappear for hours on end, only talking when he needed to.He wasn’t very good at magic either. He got the theoretical parts down, but when it came to the actual spellwork it was terrible.Oh yeah, and he talked to people who weren’t there.
Relationships: Marcus Flint & Percy Weasley, Penelope Clearwater & Percy Weasley, Percy Weasley & Ariana Dumbledore, Percy Weasley & Oliver Wood, Percy Weasley & Other(s), Percy Weasley & Regulus Black, Percy Weasley & Weasley Family, surprise! I got energy, there are a lot of weird tags that I don't have the energy to make, there should be a tag for all four of them I swear
Comments: 204
Kudos: 663





	1. Princess and Lion

**Author's Note:**

> ...no one asked for this.

Percy wasn’t normal.

He knew this.

No one else could see Princess.

When Percy was a very little child, he was never lonely. Sure, even William and Charles thought he was a bit weird, how he didn’t get bored even with being trapped in safe houses for days on end. He never showed any confusion either, and often happened to know things that no one could remember teaching him about.

Miss Lily was a healer, and she was slightly worried about him. She said that he showed signs of trauma, and they were more severe than what was expected.

Percy didn’t think anything of it. He had always been smart, and it wasn’t his fault everyone tended to talk like he wasn’t in the room. He knew that Mum was tired and overstressed, and William and Charles were stressed and bored.

He helped where he could. He stayed quiet. He cleaned up his messes. When the twins were born, he helped out with them.

Besides, he didn’t need help! Princess was there if he had questions about anything.

“Why are we hiding?” Percy kissed a sleeping George’s forehead as he put him down into the crib.

“There are bad people who want to hurt you,” Princess said. “This way they can’t find you.”

Percy nodded. That made sense.

One time Mum asked how she had ended up with such a nice child.

“Princess says it’s because you’re very nice and need help,” he had responded. Mum had looked at him weird.

“Who’s Princess?” She had bent down to look at him.

Percy had looked to Princess, who had been making faces at the twins. She had smiled sadly at him and held a finger to her lips.

Percy had looked back to Mum. “She’s my imaginary friend.”

Mum had smiled. “She sounds very nice.”

Percy had replied, “she’s amazing”.

* * *

When Percy was three, Lion appeared.

Lion was very nice, like Princess.

However, unlike Princess, Lion was very sad. He said that he had made mistakes, that he regretted.

Princess was more fun at times. She was very angry at her brother, and since she couldn’t hit things, she would yell and do her best to help Percy with his chores.

Lion seemed to be feeling better after being around Princess and Percy. He sometimes told stories about himself and his brother. He seemed a bit happier than usual then.

“Don’t worry little Scarlet-hair,” he would say. “Princess and I will keep you and your family safe.”

Percy liked being called Scarlet. It made him feel special.

There weren’t many people around. Those that were were always sad, like Lion. Perhaps they had made mistakes they regretted too. Or maybe they missed people they couldn’t see anymore. Or maybe they were just tired and stressed.

Mum was very tired and stressed. Percy had to keep the twins, and Ron, quiet so that Mum could rest.

Miss Lily and Miss Alice would stop by sometimes. They wanted Mum’s advice, because they were going to have children too, very soon.

Percy liked them. They didn’t care about how he was quiet, and they gave him books to read.

Sure, Charles and William weren’t around much, and Mum was always busy and always needed help, but Percy could deal.

It didn’t mean he didn’t want somebody to notice him though. Someone to think that he was as special as William and Charles.

At least Lion and Princess were there. They thought he was special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting chapter 2 as well because hey! It's written!


	2. Uncle Gideon

When Percy was five, he noticed Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian.

He was just barely five. He would turn six in a month.

However, they had moved again. This time, they went to a big, loud house. William, Charles, Fred, George, Ron, Ginevra, Mum, and the weird guy with glasses that had hugged everyone and kissed Mum were all being very loud, and had no regard for the bad people that might find them.

Percy didn’t like it one bit.

He had asked Mum, “Do we have to stay here long?” 

Mum had smiled the way she did when she was secretly upset. “Percy, this is home! We’re safe here now.”

Percy didn’t exactly trust that. The people they were fighting were still out there. What did they mean the war was over? Weren’t the bad people still out there?

He asked Princess and Lion about it.

“Sometimes bad people convince others that they’re good,” Lion said. “When we’re not at war, it gets a whole lot harder to see who is good and who is bad.”

Princess nodded. “I’ve told you before, about how my brother is bad. People think that he is good, but he is not, because he has managed to delude everyone, even himself. Promise me you’ll be careful, Scarlet.”

Percy promised.

The good thing about moving into the new house was that Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian were there.

Percy didn’t really like Uncle Fabian too much. He yelled, and was very stressed, like Mum. He was scary.

Uncle Gideon was very nice. He could hold Fred and get him to go to sleep very easily. Even Percy had trouble with Fred sometimes.

However, they had turned into imaginary, just like Lion and Princess.

“What happened to Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian?” Percy asked one day, staring up at William from where he had been reading on the floor.

William startled. “Well, um, they passed on, Percy.”

Percy frowned. “What does that mean?”

William sat next to Percy on the floor. William was going to Hogwarts now, and learning magic. Percy was always very worried about the safety of him while he was there.

William sighed. “Percy, they died. They are no longer present in their bodies, they got sent to whatever is beyond.”

Percy tilted his head. “Couldn’t they be ghosts?”

William laughed. “We would have seen them by now if they were.”

Percy nodded. “Did Miss Lily and Miss Alice die too? Is that why they don’t visit anymore?”

William smiled, the same sad one Mum would get whenever Percy asked about people that no longer visited. “Miss Lily is dead, yes. Miss Alice got very ill, and she’s never going to get better.”

Percy looked down at his book. “I hope Harry and Neville are going to be okay. They need to be somewhere safe.”

William ruffled Percy’s hair. “Don’t worry about it kid, Dumbledore’s on our side.”

He walked out of the room.

Percy looked up at where Uncle Gideon was sitting in Mum’s favorite chair. “So you’re an invisible ghost.”

Uncle Gideon ignored him, only smiling sadly at him.

Percy rolled his eyes. “Uncle Gideon. I can see you. Stop sitting there, that’s Mum’s chair. Why are you at this house and not any of the previous ones?”

Uncle Gideon fell out of the chair. “You can see me?!”

Percy closed his book and stood up. “You’re impossible. I suppose this means that Lion and Princess are dead too. Makes a lot of sense. By the way, do you know who the man who looks like William with glasses is?”

Uncle Gideon stared at Percy for a moment before putting his head in his hands.

“Percy,” he said, reaching out for him. “That’s your father.”

Percy thought about it. It made sense, that he would have a father. They were often mentioned in his books. He had never given much thought to it before, being quite content with the family he had.

“Father,” he said, trying out the word. “And he is not dead?”

Unce Gideon looked up at Percy and shook his head.

"You can really see me," he said.

Percy nodded. "Yes. It seems everyone turns imaginary when they die.”

Uncle Gideon sighed.

“Your father isn’t dead,” he muttered, “and I don’t understand how you can see me, but at least I can look out for you.”

Percy frowned. “Why would you look out for me?’’

Uncle Gideon’s eyes got wide. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Percy shook his head. “Princess and Lion protect me. Then it’s my job to look after everyone else, especially Mum, because Mum can’t do it all on her own.”

Uncle Gideon stood and walked over to him.

“Well, I don’t think Princess and Lion will mind if I join them.”

Percy shrugged. “We should ask them.”

They walked together into the dining room. The man with glasses, Percy’s father, was there, reading a newspaper. Lion and Princess were reading over his shoulders.

Percy walked up to the man. “Father?”

The man startled. He looked down at Percy before smiling hesitantly and lowering his newspaper. “Yes, Percy?”

Percy tilted his head. “Why don’t I remember you?”

The man looked at him sadly. “I had to leave when you were little.”

Percy nodded. “To fight the bad people.”

The man smiled. “That’s right.”

Percy looked in between his eyes. “Are you here to help Mum now?”

The man nodded. “Yes, I am.”

Percy bit at his thumb. “Do you know how to cook?”

The man shook his head.

Percy scoffed. “You aren’t going to be much more help than Ron.”

He turned and walked out of the room. Princess, Lion, and Uncle Gideon followed.

“I’m Lion,” Lion said to Uncle Gideon. “This is Princess.”

Percy could see Uncle Gideon smile out of the corner of his eye. “May I join your looking-after-Percy club?”

Princess scoffed. “It’s actually the looking-after-Scarlet club, but yeah, you can join.”

Percy rolled his eyes. Uncle Gideon was several years older than both Princess and Lion appeared, but he would get along with them just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..yes, I am adding my headcannons, thank you.


	3. Oma and Grandmother Cedrella

When Percy was seven, Oma appeared.

Oma was very kind, was always knitting something, and had two kids she took care of, one of whom was about Percy’s age.

“You’re much more mature than him,” she said as she knitted at the foot of Percy’s bed. Percy’s birthday was tomorrow, and she said that she had to make him a gift for it.

Percy frowned. “That’s a good thing, right? Mum always says she’s glad I’m so mature.”

Oma tutted. “It can be a good thing. However, you’re mature because you don’t know how to be a child.”

Percy watched her knit. “Is that why the twins and Ron don’t like me very much?”

Oma scoffed. “Maybe a bit, but they also have poor manners and the rest of your family is doing nothing to fix their views. You deserve better.”

Percy fixed his blanket. “Do you think I could learn how to knit?”

Oma laughed. “Of course you could! You’re a very bright young boy. However, could you handle the scrutiny and mockery of your family if you did so?”

Percy looked to the corner. Lion and Princess were arguing over what color the imaginary streamers they made for his birthday should be. Uncle Gideon was humming under his breath and putting up streamers of all colors, ignoring them.

Percy sighed. “I think it shall have to be a secret, like all of you.”

Oma smiled. “That’s perfectly fine. Do you have a timeline of when you want to start?”

Percy shrugged. “It would be easiest if I learned with imaginary tools, because they’re easier to hide, but I’m not very good at making things tangible yet.”

Oma raised an eyebrow. “Scarlet, liebling, you’re doing very well. Making ghosts tangible is a feat that no one else ever has done. You’re seven. You don’t have to be perfect.”

Percy felt Lion and Princess come over and take a seat on either side of him.

“Oma,” he said, “Why does no one else remember that the bad guys are still out there?”

Oma went on to her next row. “People can be very silly. They want to be safe, so they ignore all evidence to the contrary in order to stay in their little bubble. You are much wiser.”

Percy lay back on his bed and sighed. He focused a bit, and soon felt Princess patting his head. Lion hugged him.

“Don’t you worry about the bad guys right now,” Princess said. “I have enough experience to fight them off.”

Lion smiled. “A good thing about your parents being bad guys is you know how to counter their spells.”

Percy looked up at him. “Can you teach me?”

Lion’s smile turned sad. “One day, Scarlet.”

Uncle Gideon spoke up from the corner. “Percy, we may all be invisible, but you can see us. Even if everyone else could see us, we know you, and we want to stay. You aren’t getting rid of us kid, no matter how mature you seem.”

Oma smiled, pausing her knitting to pat Percy’s foot. “You will always have us for back up, whether you like it or not.”

Percy smiled and leaned into Princess’s soothing touch, like Mum’s had been before she got too busy, and Percy got “too mature”.

Mature or not, with the invisible ones, he could just be him.

Percy drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Percy was nine, Grandmother Cedrella appeared.

Percy didn’t know Grandmother Cedrella that well. She was Father’s mother. Father still didn’t like Percy very much. The feeling was mutual.

Still, despite never visiting Grandmother Cedrella much while she was alive, they all went to the funeral.

Uncle Bilius was there. That was nice, Percy could trust him to watch over Ron, meaning that Percy only had to keep an eye on Fred, George, and Ginny.

Princess, Lion, Uncle Gideon, and Oma were there too. Uncle Fabian had stayed at the house, and Percy was honestly happy about that.

Uncle Gideon gently laid a hand on Percy’s shoulder. “I’ll watch over your Mum. Don’t worry about her.”

Percy nodded in thanks, careful not to let on to the real people there that he saw things that no one else could.

He walked away from the coffin and followed where the twins had run off, leaving Ginny stumbling to keep up after them.

As he passed, he noted how Uncle Bilius was playing with Ron. Oma chuckled.

“I’ll stay with them,” she said. “Ron is a very smart lad, you know.”

Percy smiled in acknowledgement, nodded to Uncle Billius, and kept walking.

As he approached where Fred, George, and Ginny were, he noticed they had found an old shed.

“It figures,” he muttered. Princess and Lion laughed.

“Don’t worry,” Princess said. “We’ll keep them out of trouble, won’t we?”

Lion rolled his eyes. “We both know that without Scarlet this family would fall apart.”

Percy shook his head at their antics and entered the shed.

“George? Fred? Ginny? You shouldn’t be in here!”

Percy heard a scoff from the corner. He turned to find Fred and George standing on top of an old desk in order to reach some cabinets.

“Stop being so bossy!” Fred stomped on the table. “You’re just going to tell on us.”

Percy sighed. Mum shouldn’t have such a short temper with the twins, but he could understand how tired and stressed she was.

“If we leave now, I promise I won’t tell Mum,” he droned. “Where’s Ginny?”

George rolled his eyes and gestured behind Percy. He turned to see Ginny gleefully digging through what appeared to be a chest full of old clothes. She looked up, and upon seeing Percy, she grabbed a pile of clothes that had been set aside.

“I found adventuring clothes!” She stumbled but caught herself.

Percy smiled slightly. He was reaching to take some of the clothes when he heard an unfamiliar voice from behind him.

“Don’t touch that box dear, it’s cursed.”

Percy whipped around to find George reaching for a box on the highest shelf he could reach. Lion was there, and met Percy’s eyes in a panic.

Percy shoved a bunch of energy at Lion and ran for the desk. Lion pushed George away from the box, and Percy barely managed to catch him as he went tumbling off the desk.

Percy sat there, panting, clutching George to his chest. Fred and Ginny gaped at him.

Percy caught his breath. “That box is cursed, which is why we are leaving now.”

George stared up at him. “Okay, that’s fair.”

Percy helped George to his feet and grabbed Ginny’s hand from where she had rushed over. Fred walked a little bit behind them.

Percy looked into the corner. He saw Princess and Lion being hugged by an older woman that he was now able to recognize as Grandmother Cedrella.

It made sense. Hadn’t Lion mentioned that he was a Black? He and Grandmother Cedrella were probably related.

He was brought back into himself when Fred tugged at his sleeve as they left the shed.

“How did you know the box was cursed?” He refused to look Percy in the eyes, meaning it was probably his suggestion to look at the box.

Percy patted Fred on the head and glanced back to where Princess, Lion, and Grandmother Cedrella were following them back to the funeral.

“Grandmother Cedrella told me, a while ago.” He ruffled Fred’s hair a bit. “Don’t worry about it, you couldn’t have known.”

The four of them walked back towards the ceremony, watched over by the three people drifting behind them.


	4. Uncle Bilius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter (and this chapter only) I do briefly mention blood and sludge. Icky stuff. If you want to skim the chapter, or skip it, that's fine :) There will be a summary at the end if that is the case, but it shouldn't be too bad.

When Percy was ten, Uncle Bilius appeared.

It wasn’t all that unexpected. After all, he had made such a big deal about seeing a Grimm when he visited the day before.

However, it was still a bit startling to see Uncle Bilius reading the paper over Father’s shoulder, and realizing what that meant.

Percy set the table, glancing at Uncle Bilius out of the corner of his eye. He cleared the newspapers off the chairs placed against the wall and moved so Uncle Gideon and Oma could sit in them. He then snuck away into the kitchen.

“Hey Mum,” he said. “Will Uncle Bilius come by again soon?”

Mum was about to speak when Father laughed.

“Don’t you remember what he saw last night? A Grimm!”

Mum tutted. “Don’t cross fate Arthur! You never know what could happen!”

Father chuckled a bit more and then did his weird smile he only gave Percy.

“He’ll probably come by again next week. Why, do you miss him?”

Percy shrugged. “Not as much as everyone else will, I bet.”

Princess let out a slight snort from where she was sitting with Lion in the doorway to the living room. Lion smirked.

“I taught him that doublespeak,” he stage whispered. “Such a quick learner, aren’t you Scarlet.”

Percy slightly smiled and glanced over towards Uncle Bilius again.

“Maybe he misses Grandmother Cedrella,” he said.

Mum smiled down at Percy, and Father let out an awkward chuckle.

“Do you miss Grandmother Cedrella?” Mum let Percy stir the oatmeal.

Percy shrugged. “It kind of feels like she never left. It’s weird for me.”

Princess and Lion snickered.

Uncle Bilius raised an eyebrow. “Who are you two?”

Princess did an exaggerated bow the best she could while sitting on the floor. “I’m Ariana Dumbledore! Albus sucks and Aberforth is pretty decent! Also I accidentally met Scarlet—Percy to you—when Albus visited the Weasleys and I got attached. He calls me Princess!”

Lion just did a little salute. “I’m Regulus Black, also got attached to Scarlet here when I was following Sirius. I’m also attached to Ariana though, we’re best friends now.”

Uncle Bilius stared at them. “How old even are you two?”

Lion raised an eyebrow. “Mentally or at the time of our deaths?”

“Percy!”

Percy startled and turned to Mum.

Mum smiled sadly. “Do you want me to do some stirring?”

Percy shook his head. “No, I just got lost in thought. I’m good.”

Father huffed and went back to his newspaper. Mum placed a hand on his shoulder. “We can always go check on Uncle Bilius if you feel like it, sweetie.”

Percy shook his head. “It’s fine.”

Mum gently took the spoon from his hands. “Perhaps you could go read and relax for a bit, okay?”

Percy sighed but nodded, heading out of the room. Lion and Princess got up to let him pass and then followed him into the living room. So did Uncle Bilius.

Percy sat on the floor. Lion and Princess sat on the couch behind him. Uncle Bilius sat in one of the chairs, thankfully not Mum’s.

“So why did you two get attached to Percy?” Uncle Billus seemed a bit sad. Possibly because he was realizing he was dead.

Percy rolled his eyes. “Uncle Bilius, I can _see_ you.”

Uncle Bilius fell off the chair.

Percy narrowed his eyes. Uncle Gideon had the exact same reaction. It wasn’t blood, since they came from different sides of the family, so why did they have the same reaction?

Lion leaned over. “I think it’s just that learning you can see the dead is extremely shocking no matter what side of the family they’re on.”

Uncle Bilius spluttered. “What, do you have telepathy too?”

Lion chuckled. “Nah, it’s just we’ve known Scarlet since he was little. We’re pretty used to figuring out what he’s thinking without him having to say it at this point.”

Princess snorted. “That probably helps the whole ‘not letting people know about the ghosts’ thing, honestly.”

Percy rolled his eyes. Honestly, the sass Princess let out sometimes.

Uncle Bilius put his head in his hands. “You’re telling me that my ten year old nephew can see ghosts, who are both about fucking _seventeen_ , and both _clearly_ dead?”

Percy frowned. “What do you mean?”

Uncle Bilius stared. He then wildly gestured at Lion and Princess.

“Ariana’s bleeding from like…twenty different wounds, and Regulus drips water and sludge out of his mouth every time he talks!”

Percy rolled his eyes. “They’ve always been like that. Besides, it’s not as bad as Uncle Gideon can get.”

Uncle Bilius stared, and then buried his face into his hands with a scream.

Lion pouted. “Hey, I’m eighteen. Plus, you look worse than me.”

Princess giggled. “I’m actually fifteen, so hey!”

Percy glared. “Besides, girls usually have to deal with bleeding every month anyways. Sure it’s all the time, but no one else can see it, and it doesn’t hurt me.”

Uncle Bilius uncovered his face and lay back onto the floor. “How do you even know that?!”

“Grandmother Cedrella told me about it. After all, if I’m going to be a prefect like William, I have to be prepared to help everyone. Especially Ginny.”

Uncle Bilius just lay on his back. Lion and Princess started cackling on the couch. Oma and Uncle Gideon walked in.

Uncle Gideon sighed. “You just had to see a grim, didn’t you.”

Oma smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you, Bilius. Call me Oma.”

Uncle Bilius sat up. “Who are you?"

Percy shrugged. “She got attached to me too. We met at Grigotts. She’s teaching me how to knit, so I can help Mum with the sweaters when I’m older.”

Oma tutted. “Now now, your Mum doesn’t need any help. What you can do is do it for her.”

Percy perked up. “And I can make one for you too! Out of invisible yarn!”

Uncle Bilius sighed. “What the fuck is even going on anymore?”

Grandmother Cedrella walked through the kitchen wall. She had presumably come back from checking in on Aunt Muriel. “Watch your language, Bilius, Percy may be mature but he still shouldn’t have to hear those words.”

Princess smirked. “Fuck, Auntie Cedrella, fuck!”

Grandmother Cedrella raised an eyebrow. “Don’t think I won’t ground you, Princess Ariana.”

Uncle Bilius looked to Uncle Gideon. “Is this normal?”

Uncle Gideon shrugged and sat down. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Percy huffed. “Not that chair Uncle Gideon, you’ll get blood on it.”

Uncle Gideon rolled his eyes and moved to the ground. Uncle Bilius threw his hands up into the air.

Percy giggled as everyone around him started chattering away. Sure, Father thought he was weird, but everyone was a little bit. This way, he was more like Princess and Lion!

The two in question leaned down, smiling, to ruffle his hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...that's a thing.
> 
> A summary for anyone who skipped: Percy is completely unphazed by blood and the like because the ghosts around him are all clearly dead. He's still having a good time, despite being slightly distant from his non-ghost family. Uncle Bilius is just horrified at the bloody child ghosts that apparently his nephew can see.


	5. Hogwarts

When Percy was eleven, he went to Hogwarts.

There, everyone could see some of the ghosts, while others still went unseen.

Oma’s grandchildren were also at the school somewhere. Percy didn’t know them yet. Oma had only ever mentioned their first names, Christofer and Marcus.

Percy sat in the Gryffindor common room, watching some people simply walk through others, as he buried himself further into the hat Oma had knitted him.

“How am I supposed to do this,” he muttered. Princess and Lion shrugged.

“Stay away from Albus, he’s a jerk and will try to manipulate you,” Princess said.

Lion nodded. “Try to make a friend? That way you can have someone to tell who is a ghost and who is not.”

Percy sighed.

“What are you sighing over?”

Percy looked up to see Charles leaning over the back of his chair with a smile.

Percy fiddled with his quill a bit. “I keep seeing people.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “What kind of people?”

Percy blinked at his easy acceptance. “Do you remember Lion and Princess?”

Charles moved around and sat in the chair next to him. “Your imaginary friends?”

Percy looked down. “They aren’t imaginary, they’re just invisible, and there’s lots of invisible people here but I can’t tell who’s invisible and who’s not.”

Charles was silent for a long moment.

“You sure you see them?”

Percy nodded, keeping his head down.

“Do Lion and Princess feel any different from other people?”

Percy nodded. “I can send them energy. Before I do that, they feel kind of empty.”

“Maybe you could just ignore the people that feel slightly empty?”

Percy looked up and stared at Charles.

“What?” He shrugged. “If that’s how you feel the different people are, can’t that be how you tell them apart from the normal people?”

Percy blinked.

“You’re a genius.”

Charles stretched and stood up. “Try telling the teachers that. I’m gonna go find Bill, see you later Perce!”

Percy continued to sit there in shock after Charles walked off. Lion snorted.

“How come we never thought of that before?” He nudged Princess.

Princess glared at him. “I didn’t know we felt that different! You didn’t think of it either!”

Percy huffed a bit as Lion and Princess teased each other. They acted like William and Charles would with each other, or Fred and George.

“Hello!”

Percy turned to see a boy with brown hair standing next to him. He did not feel empty.

“Hello.”

“Do you play quidditch like your brothers?”

Percy shook his head. The boy grinned.

“That’s okay, Mum says I play enough for all of Scotland. I’m Oliver!”

Percy smiled. “I’m Percy. I like reading.”

Oliver grinned. “Can you help me with my reading? I get really distracted if it’s not about quidditch. Mum says it’s a hyper fixer.”

Percy blinked. “Do you mean hyper fixation?”

Oliver nodded furiously. “Yeah, that! Do you want to go to the kitchens? I’m not sure how to get there, but I’m hungry.”

Percy smiled a bit wider. “I have invisible friends that know how to get there.”

Oliver’s eyes went wide. “Invisible friends? That’s so cool!”

Percy looked around. There was hardly anyone around. “Can you keep it a secret? My little siblings already don’t like me because I’m boring, and my Father doesn’t like me because I didn’t remember him when he came back from the war.”

Oliver scoffed. “That’s stupid of them. You’re the first person that hasn’t told me to go away, so I think that automatically makes us best friends.”

Percy grinned. “Yeah. That sounds fun.”

He let Oliver lead the way out the door, looking to his side to see if Princess and Lion were following and could show him the kitchens. Princess grinned at him, and Lion gave him a thumbs up.

“Go left here,” Lion said, “and be nice to Filch. He’s a squib like Princess and he honestly isn’t that bad. Make friends with him, Madame Pince, and Professor Mcgonagall. And stop Oliver before he gets stuck in the trick step.”

Percy grabbed Oliver by the arm. “This way, come on.”

The two of them rushed down a different hallway, slowly making their way down to where the kitchens were. Oliver nearly made several wrong turns, and Lion had to occasionally reroute in order to avoid ghosts that would tell the teachers they were out and about.

They rounded a corner and came face to face with the painting of the pear that Lion said was their goal.

“What are you two doing?”

Percy and Oliver turned around to see a dark haired Slytherin boy standing there. He was glaring at them, but Percy recognized him as a fellow first year.

“Hello, I’m Percy! What’s your name?”

The boy glared.

“I’m Marcus Flint. You’re not supposed to be up.”

Someone cleared their throat behind them. The three boys turned to find a girl standing there.

“You’re not supposed to be up either. I’m Penelope, by the way. I’m here because I’m hungry, and I didn’t eat much at the feast because I have allergies and I didn’t know what not to eat.”

Oliver grinned. “I’m Oliver! I’m here because I’m still hungry. My Mum says I’m active.”

Percy turned back to Marcus. “Do you have an Oma?”

Marcus startled. “We called my nanny Oma, and she was better than my parents, but she died when I was eight.”

Percy nodded. “She’s really nice. I can see her, and she tells stories. She made me this hat I’m wearing. She misses you and your brother. Want to get some food with us?”

Marcus stared and then shrugged. “Not like my parents care what I do. My brother gets all the discipline. I think it’s because my parents still call me a girl sometimes.”

Percy frowned. “Why would they do that?”

Marcus rolled his eyes. “I was born a girl, dumbass. I’m a boy, obviously, but I was born a girl, and my parents don’t recognize that I’m not. Despite the fact that the name on my Hogwarts letter was Marcus.”

Penelope scrunched her nose. “So you’re trans?”  
All three boys looked at her in confusion.

She rolled her eyes. “Wizards.”

Oliver shrugged and patted Marcus’s shoulder. “Your parents suck.”

Penelope waltzed up and linked arms with the boy. “Let’s go eat, shall we?”

Percy smiled as his new friends entered into the kitchens. Princess and Lion winked at him.

“My brother Aberforth, the one I like, was born as a girl,” Princess noted.

Lion nodded. “Also Professor Sprout used to be a boy. But I only know that because I was doing some research for her and we ended up talking about gender. I figured out that I’m not really a boy or a girl.”

Princess frowned. “Do you want to be referred to as a boy or—”

Lion shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind being called a boy, or by he/him pronouns, but they/them pronouns also work.”

Percy hummed. He hadn’t thought about that possibility. He didn’t really feel it himself, but it kind of made sense. Lion never referred to him—themself as a boy, but they did call themself a brother. Perhaps it could matter more to other people.

Gender was extremely confusing.

Oliver poked his head out of the portrait. “Come on Percy! There’s lot’s of food here!”

Percy smiled and followed.

Three friends! That didn’t care about the invisible people! Awesome!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Making Hogwarts trans accepting? It's more likely than you think


	6. The Founders, Pandora Lovegood

When Percy was twelve, he followed a man with bright red hair into the forbidden forest.

He knew it was dangerous in there, but the man was old and seemed like he knew where he was going.

He wasn’t old physically, as he looked no older than Uncle Bilius, but the clothes he wore were very old, like Lady Helena’s.

(Yes, Percy knew the Grey Lady’s name. Helena Ravenclaw was very nice. She knew lots of hidden passages, and had good book recommendations.)

Percy snuck after the guy as he went further into the forest. He walked into a clearing where three other people sat.

There was a woman that had blonde hair with streaks of pink sharpening a knife. A dark-haired man lay next to her, head right next to her lap. The third person was a woman with long brown hair, who was reading aloud from a book. Percy was able to recognize some terms from Charles’s ramblings about dragons.

As the man approached the group, Percy suddenly realized that the brown-haired woman looked really familiar.

She looked very similar to Lady Helena.

Oh.

“Pst.”

Percy barely managed not to startle as he looked beside him in the bushes. Penelope was there.

“What are we doing,” she whispered.

Percy winced. “I might have accidentally found the Founder’s hiding place by stalking Godric Gryffindor.”

Penelope raised an eyebrow. “Of course you did. Want to see what I figured out?”

Percy grinned. “Of course.”

Penelope grinned back. “So you know how you were thinking about how Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, specifically the first exception of food, might have to do with the possible prevention of the possibility of making anything unstable?”

Percy frowned. “You mean how I read your muggle textbook about fission and fusion and I thought that transfiguration of objects might make them radioactive, and that magic has a built in failsafe to keep us from eating radioactive stuff before it’s allowed to settle? And because it might return to the original chemical makeup, therefore poisoning us?”

Penelope nodded excitedly. “And then you said you though if it’s not as much of a difference, like if the original object is organic and contains all the right atoms already, the only change would be the molecular structure, and it might actually work?”

Percy nodded.

Penelope held up a piece of wood. “I think I made a spell that will work. Want to try it out?”

Percy looked from her to the wood and back again. “Oh, do it!”

Penelope handed Percy the wood. He held it up as she pointed her wand at it.

“ _Fac Malus Domestica_!”

The piece of wood turned into an apple.

The two of them stared. “Holy shit.”

“Good god.”

Percy turned to the clearing, where all four people were now staring at them. Helena’s mother was in shock. The other three were grinning uncontrollably.

“Oh, um, sorry for breaking the rules of magic?”

The dark-haired man turned to him. “I’ll dwell on you being able to see us later kid, but seriously, that was fucking badass, and that’s coming from the person that grew up alongside Helga.”

The blonde with streaks rolled her eyes. “Ignore his hero worship. Good job kids, you broke Rowena.”

The red-head was preoccupied with gleefully poking Lady Ravenclaw.

Penelope nudged Percy. “What are they saying?”

Percy blinked at her. “Lady Ravenclaw’s in shock, Lord Slytherin called us badasses, Lady Hufflepuff is a badass, and Lord Gryffindor is poking Lady Ravenclaw.”

Penelope grinned and bit into the apple. “Those’re proper reactions to breaking Gamp’s Law!"

* * *

When Percy was fourteen, Mrs. Lovegood appeared.

It was in the middle of the school year, so seeing Mrs. Lovegood tell Marcus that he was doing his potion wrong was a big surprise.

Percy passed by Marcus’s work station on his way to get more scarab beetles. “Stir to the left Marcus, not the right.”

Marcus sighed and began stirring the other way. The potion slowly turned closer to the color it was supposed to be.

Mrs. Lovegood nodded. “Thank you, Percy. Your Uncle Gideon says hello, by the way.”

Percy grabbed the scarab beetles he needed and went back to his work station. “How did you die, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Mrs. Lovegood smiled. “A potion I was designing went wrong and exploded. I’ve been occasionally checking up on Xenophelius and Luna since then, and when Ginny came over your Uncle came with her, and said I could come talk to you if I wished.”

Percy subtly shrugged. “Well, if you do choose to stick around the area, Lion and Princess and I have been changing the password to Dumbledore’s office to bother him. We’ve been trying to get our hands on a camera, so we can get his reactions to show Mr. Aberforth. He’s been feeling down recently, and I’d like to help.”

Mrs. Lovegood raised an eyebrow. “How’d you change the password?”

Percy smiled. “Mr. Salazar and Mr. Godric were very happy to help me cause chaos, and Ms. Helga helped me get away with it. Ms. Rowena is more preoccupied at the moment, because she really likes George and Fred’s creativity with charms. Grandmother Cedrella does join her though, and she lets me know if they’re about to do something too dangerous.”

Mrs. Lovegood smiled again. “I’m glad you have such nice friends! Your mother was always worried about you, said you seemed a bit to used to death after experiencing it so much in your childhood.”

Percy huffed. “Mum tries, but she can’t understand that death hits different when you can see the people that died. I’m almost the same age Princess died now, and she hasn’t aged a day since I first met her when I was around two. I’m very aware of the fact that I might die, I just don’t care.”

Oliver nudged Percy, bringing him back to focus the normal plane. “Please focus on trying not to die, at least for those of us that can’t see dead people. We haven’t figured out whether your powers of bringing the Veil physically through the plane will work on anyone other than you yet!”

Percy sighed. “True. I have to figure out if I can make you guys interact with people other than me, because so far we can’t tell if I’m going into the Veil or if the Veil is coming to me.”

Mrs. Lovegood chuckled. “Let me know when you find out how, okay? I’d love to meet your living friends too.”

Percy smiled. “Thanks Mrs. Lovegood. Maybe if you’re here to watch me everyone else will be more willing to live their lives in the Beyond.”

Lion and Princess glared from where they had been making fun of Professor Snape.

Mrs. Lovegood laughed. “I doubt your little family will ever let that happen. They love you too much.”

Percy blushed slightly. “I guess they do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The number of people who are declaring themselves Percy's family has increased. A lot.
> 
> Also me? making this fic longer? I'm sorry, I got ideas


	7. Lily, James, and Sirius Black

When Percy was fifteen, he went to Hogwarts and found Miss Lily there.

James too. His hair was still as messy as ever.

Percy ignored them both.

“Is there a reason you’re ignoring the invisible people today?” Oliver stuffed his mouth with snacks as they waited for the first years to arrive.

Percy exhaled and leaned on the table. “Lion and Princess are hiding because Harry Potter’s parents are here, and Lion used to be a Death Eater, and Princess hates Dumbledore, who was close with the Potters, so she doesn’t want to deal with them. Everyone else is either checking in on someone or in the Beyond.”

Oliver frowned. “They don’t usually go to the beyond, do they?”

Percy shrugged. “I’m Princess’s age now, so they’re giving me more freedom. I’m a normal kid who’s grown up, I just have many extra overprotective parents.”

Oliver snorted. “That are also ghosts!”

Percy huffed. “True. I’m worried about this year though. Helga’s been complaining about Dumbledore putting kids in danger. I can do my best as a prefect, but it isn’t much.”

Oliver scoffed. “Not true, you’ve got us! Both Penelope and Marcus are also prefects, and they’ll help. I’m sure the other prefects will too, once they get to know you!”

Percy glared at him. “Literally everyone else in the school thinks I’m weird and stuck up. Plus, you’re no help, you’d start a riot if anything interfered with your quidditch.”

Oliver whined. “Yeah, but anything threatening my players is important, right? And anything threatening you and Marcus and Penelope!”

Percy rolled his eyes. “Just focus on finding a seeker for this year.”

Oliver pouted. “You could be a seeker.”

“Oliver, no.”

“Fine.”

The doors of the Great Hall opened as the first years finally arrived, lead by Professor McGonagall. Ron and Harry were among them.

Percy sighed. “I hope Ron is doing okay.”

Oliver snorted. “He’ll be fine. Bilius told you he made friends, right?”

Percy shook his head as he continued staring at the first years. Miss Alice’s son Neville seemed to be doing alright, although he was clutching something in his hands.

James was smiling down at Harry, as expected. He seemed to be a bit sad, like Lion had been when he first arrived, before he grew so close with Princess. 

Harry himself was huddled next to Ron. Percy subtly rubbed the bridge of his nose. If Ron had ended up friends with Harry, it would be rather nice, but a real pain in the neck for Percy to keep them both out of trouble.

Miss Lily was glaring at Dumbledore.

Percy averted his gaze and raised his eyebrows. Well, that was unexpected.

Oliver nudged him. “What is it?”

Percy side eyed him. “Harry’s mum is glaring at Dumbledore with a burning hatred.”

Oliver’s eyes widened. “Oh shit.”

Percy slapped a hand over his mouth. “Not around everyone else, I just got the twins to stop cursing around the first—now second years.”

Oliver licked Percy’s hand.

Percy glared at him. “It’s funny how it’s been four years and you still think that will make me take my hand off.”

Percy turned back to watch the first years. The Sorting Hat had apparently finished its song while he was bickering with Oliver. Rowena and Godric were laughing at Salazar in the corner, whatever that was about. Salazar was only pouting, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Miss Lily strolled up to the high table where the professors were sitting. James facepalmed from over by Harry.

“Hello, you self righteous motherfucker!” Her voice carried with the force of her anger.

Percy took his hand off Oliver’s mouth and buried his head in his arms to hide his laughter.

Oliver tapped his shoulder. “You okay?!”

Percy could barely hear him over Miss Lily’s ensuing rant. “Don’t worry, Miss Lily’s just going off on Dumbledore.”

There was a different hand tugging on his robes.

Percy looked behind him next to the wall. Sure enough, Princess and Lion were crouched there, presumably from where they had snuck in.

Princess smiled at him. “I’m planning on going to talk to them later. I wasn’t going to tell them about you, at least not yet, but if you want me to Scarlet…”

Percy barely shook his head, then nodded to Lion.

Princess nudged Lion. “They’re not ready to talk to them, which is understandable. We’ll come to that later.”

Percy smiled and whispered, “good luck.”

Oliver tapped his wrist and raised an eyebrow.

Percy smiled. “Princess is very happy to have someone else on the hating-Dumbledore train.”

He attempted to focus on the first years’ sorting, but it was hard to hear over Miss Lily’s screaming. Then again, she seemed to be yelling a lot about how terrible the people Harry lived with had treated him. Perhaps he should keep an eye out for the kid, especially if he was going to be friends with Ron…

* * *

When Percy was seventeen, Sirius Black appeared.

This time, it was not a ghost.

Percy didn’t say anything. James and Lily were fussing over his state, with Lily adding the occasional comment on how much she hated Dumbledore.

Lion was silent next to him. Princess was rubbing his back.

Percy continued lying in the bushes of the Forbidden Forest.

“Hey kid.”

Percy turned slowly to see Godric sitting there.

“Hello sir. How’s Lord Salazar?”

Godric winced. “He could definitely be better. All those students that could have died.”

Percy nodded. Penelope had nearly died before any of them could figure out what was going on.

Godric nodded to where James and Lily were still fussing over Sirius. “You going to go talk to them?”

Percy shook his head. “I haven’t managed to keep their son safe, even with the help of all of you. I doubt they’d like me.”

Lion seemed to finally pull slightly out of their mope. “They wouldn’t blame you for that.”

Percy glared at him. “You say that yet you haven’t talked to them yet either, even though you literally betrayed Riddle.”

Lion glared back at him. “You’re still younger than me.”

Princess rolled her eyes. “Both of you, honestly. Now you’ve figured out Harry’s broomstick is okay, right?”

Percy sighed. “Yeah. I still can’t find Pettigrew though.”

Lion pouted. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was him.”

Godric sighed. “He was a very good actor. I’m going to go find Helga before she attempts to comfort Salazar with physical altercations again.”

Percy smiled at him. “Good luck.”

Godric ruffled Princess and Lion’s hair and walked away.

Percy sighed and rolled over onto his back, closing his eyes.

Seriously, who knew how much trouble Harry and Ron and _Hermione_ could get into in one year. Percy had no idea how they were going to survive the coming years. Maybe he could visit through the Ministry or something? In between finding Horcruxes, because no way he and Princess and Lion were leaving that to anyone else. Except Penelope and Oliver and Marcus. They could help.

Percy nearly startled upright as he heard a voice speak loudly.

“Hello, Ariana, what are you doing out here?”

It seemed Miss Lily had made her way over to where they all were hiding. That meant Lion had probably run off.

“I was following the Weasley head boy. He comes here to lay in the grass sometimes.”

Ah, half truths.

“He comes to the Forbidden Forest?”

“He always ends up interrupted if he goes anywhere else, so yes.”

“Well, how are you?”

“My rage towards Albus has flared up again. He knew Sirius was innocent, right?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Poor soul.”

“Yes. I’m sorry you had to deal with Albus so much in life as well.”

“Oh, it was mostly Aberforth interacting with me, but yes.”

“I’ll get out of your hair then.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I expect Regulus will be more willing to be around you, then?”

“Yes.”

“Did he expect this?”

“Not on this level. I think he always thought of their brother as someone who couldn’t be touched.”

“All of us but James did, honestly. Let us know if he decides to come say hello, alright?”

“Sure, Lily.”

“Take care, Ariana.”

“Bye.”

Percy waiting until he could feel Miss Lily was far away before opening his eyes.

Princess looked at him. “You could talk to them too, you know.”

Percy shook his head. “They knew Lion. I only met Miss Lily, and even then only a few times.”

Princess shook her head. “Think about it, Scarlet.”

Percy sighed. “I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So this will be slightly canon divergent, because Percy isn't about to let his baby brother and friends look for Horcruxes he has already found, no thank you. RIP to Dumbledore, but Percy is different.
> 
> Also, sorry—  
> 1: I posted so late today.  
> 2: Regulus's pronouns switch so wildly. It's how I use one of my friend's pronouns and it always amuses them how it confuses people.


	8. Cedric Diggory and Sirius Black

When Percy was eighteen, Cedric Diggory appeared.

He had appeared before Harry had returned, yelling, “You have to believe him!”

When Harry appeared, claiming the dark lord was back, Percy understood what he meant.

He thought back to what Lion had said about knowing Crouch’s son, and made himself scarce.

He walked through the corridors of Hogwarts and stepped into an empty classroom, immediately beginning to pace back and forth.

Lion and Princess settled onto one of the tables. They traded glances with each other.

“We checked it out. There’s tons of Death Eaters in the government. Even Mr. Crouch has been controlled by his son. Currently he’s posing as Mad-Eye-Moody.”

Percy nodded. “I know that one Horcrux is in Gringotts, and there’s another one in the old Gaunt place. Lady Rowena mentioned her diadem is in the room of requirement, where all things are hidden. Lion, you took Lord Salazar’s locket and Kreacher now has it. We need to get it from him before your brother comes back to Britain. Nagini is one, and the diary that Harry destroyed before it sucked out Ginny’s soul. And also Princess said that Harry himself could be the last, so we somehow have to deal with that.”

Lion snorted. “Of course we have to deal with all of this.”

Percy glared. “Like you weren’t freaking out as bad as I was when they decided to reboot the fucking Triwizard Tournament.”

Princess sighed. “Where do we go from here then?”

Percy shook his head. “We’re going to get Lady Rowena’s first, while we’re here. Then Lion will get the Gaunt one because of curses or something. I’m going to talk to the goblins, they know me already, and might be willing to let me remove a dangerous item from a vault.”

Lion stood and stretched. “So we’re leaving then?”

Percy shook his head. “I need to make sure Ron and Harry are okay and check on Ginny and Fred and George. I won’t be seeing them for a while.”

Both Lion and Princess stared at him.

“Wait, wait,” Princess said, waving her arms, “you’re actually going through with that plan you had?”

Percy nodded. “Riddle will take over the Ministry. I need to be inside when he does. I can’t be in contact with any of my family, except maybe Charles.”

Lion and Princess stared some more.

Oma peeked in. “Am I interrupting something?”

Percy stopped pacing.

Lion shook their head. “Just Scarlet’s stupid decisions. What’s up?”

Oma gestured behind her. “The new boy had a chat with Harry’s parents and wants to stick around. You up for meeting him?”

Princess turned to Percy.

He sighed. “Sure. Just not the Potters, I’m not ready.”

Oma nodded and waved behind her.

Cedric stepped through the door and stared at the others in the room. “Wait, what? Who are you?”

Lion raised his hand. “I’m Sirius Black’s dead brother that became a Death Eater and died betraying the dude. Sirius wasn’t actually ever a Death Eater, he was just framed.”

Princess raised her hand. “I’m Dumbledore’s younger sister that died because of Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s a skank ass bitch and we don’t like him at all.”

Percy shrugged. “You know me. Call me Percy or Scarlet.”

Cedric stared at him. “What the fuck, you can see ghosts?”

Percy went back to pacing. “Everyone can see ghosts. I can see behind the Veil too. And bring the Veil into reality in the physical sense. We’re unsure about visual so far.”

Cedric continued staring. “What the fuck? Is this why you’re so weird?”

Princess shrugged. “That and his friends didn’t help at all, one’s chaos and mad at the wizarding world for trying to tell her what to do, one’s managed to convince his parents he’s a blood supremacist despite how he believes blood can’t even get his gender born right, and one’s obsessed with Quidditch.”

Cedric tilted his head. “To be fair, the last one isn’t that bad—”

Lion shook his head. “It’s Oliver Wood.”

Cedric winced. “Okay, I understand now.”

Percy sighed. “Look, my questionable decisions aside, would you be willing to help me keep an eye on Harry and Ron?”

Cedric shrugged. “Sure. Seems those kids could use as much help as possible.”

Percy nodded. “Also, Harry has a crush on you. Fair warning.”

Cedric shook his head. “I’ll still help.”

Percy smiled. “Good. Now we just need to get the Horcrux and we can go.”

Lion smirked. “Let’s say hello to the dumbasses and Lady Helga first.”

Percy nodded. “Yes, she’d hunt me down if I didn’t.”

* * *

When Percy was nineteen, Sirius Black appeared.

Again.

This time, he was actually a ghost.

Percy, of course, found this out when he was trying not to get booted for being a traitor by the Ministry.

He was sitting in on a meeting of Minister Fudge and some others, working on some paperwork in the meantime. Honestly, everyone here was so stupid. Percy had access to everything, and without him the Ministry would literally break down.

Princess was sitting in the corner. She was playing with the Horcruxes, because Percy had thankfully finally figured out how to push reality into the Veil, instead of the reverse.

Percy’s fingers twitched towards his watch strap Oma and Grandmother Cedrella had made for him. That had actually become easy, at least with non-living things.

Lion, of course, chose that moment to fling himself through the wall and scream, “Sirius went and fucking died!”

Percy barely kept himself from reacting.

Princess had no such qualms and jumped to her feet, scattering the Horcruxes. “What?!”

Lion was shaking. “I need to hide, I need to hide—”

Princess frowned. “No you don’t! You’re a good person, and if Sirius bothers you I’ll beat him up!”

Lion shook his head. “No, it’s fine Princess, I just don’t know what to say to him or anything. I’ve barely started talking to Lily and James, I don’t know what to do now!”

Percy concentrated on the paperwork once more, but looked up as someone came in to whisper something in Minister Fudge’s ear.

Princess looked to him. “Yeah, he’s talking about how Harry and everyone broke into the Department of Mysteries. A bunch of Death Eaters got arrested by Auror Shacklebolt.”

Percy let himself sigh as the Minister dismissed the meeting and he was left alone in the room. “Why do they always get involved in everything. It’s extremely annoying.”

Princess shrugged as she stuffed the Horcruxes into her apron pockets. Lion shook their head.

The three of them went back to Percy’s sound proofed office. Penelope had explained to him how muggles did it, and together they had made sure no one could hear Percy talking to himself or realize any sound barrier was there.

Merlin, Percy missed his friends. They hardly talked anymore outside of trading info on Riddle’s moves.

Percy closed the door and sat down. Lion and Princess took their normal seats against the side wall.

Percy sighed. “Alright, how did Sirius die? I thought he was kept away in the house?”

Lion sighed. “Kreacher was angry at him. Apparently he made some comment about me the other day about my loyalties. Riddle tricked Harry into thinking he had him, and then Sirius came as back up here. Bella pushed him into the Veil boundary.”

Percy winced. “The Veil boundary. So he directly turned into one of you, huh?”

Lion nodded. “I was kind of watching at the time, but I left as soon as that happened. Did see Shacklebolt with Lucius and a few others in regalia though.”

Percy shook his head. “I should see if I can write Lady Narcissa and see if she’s okay. She seems to like me when she comes here, for whatever reason.”

Princess titled her head. “Probably because you remind her of Lion. You’ve grown up a lot like us, actually.”

Percy smiled at her. “Of course I did. We’re family, aren’t we?”

Princess smiled back at him. Even Lion seemed to be in a better mood.

Percy focused back on the paperwork at hand. He could feel another three Veil ghosts approaching.

“Incoming,” he whispered.

Lion hid themself behind the desk. Princess rolled her eyes but stayed where she was.

Sure enough, Lily, James, and Sirius came in.

“Hello Ariana, is Regulus around?” Lily sat down next to Princess.

Princess rolled her eyes. “Yeah, they can hear us. He’ll come out when he’s ready.”

James nodded to Sirius. “It took a long time for him to open up to us. He might not be ready today.”

Sirius nodded. “Fair enough. I’ve yelled about him a lot without hearing his side, I might as well listen when he’s ready.”

Princess shot a look at Percy.

Ah, right. He should probably let them know he could see them at some point.

Percy sighed and put his head down on the desk. He had not asked for a life this stressful. Why was life like this?

Lion shifted next to him, slowly moving around the desk and into the sight of Lily, James, and Sirius.

James spotted him first. “Hey Regulus!”

Lion flinched. “Hey.”

Sirius smirked. “Hey dumbass. What are you doing there?”

Princess glared and stood. Both Percy and Lion groaned.

Lion stood as fast as they could. “Princess no—”

Princess punched Sirius in the face.

Percy groaned again. “Fuck me and my life.”

Lion sighed. “Why did you do that Princess?”

Princess smiled. “I told you that you are my brother now. He was being mean, and I punched him!”

Percy screamed into his desk. Lion buried his face in his hands.

Sirius spoke up from the floor. “Why do you call her Princess?”

Princess cut in before James and Lily could say anything. “I don’t talk about it much.”

Lion snorted. “Which is better though, Lion or Princess?”

Percy muttered something into his desk.

Lion giggled. “Not like the names were made by a three year old or anything.”

Percy could feel Princess smirking. “Yeah, nothing like that.”

Percy sat up and started working on his paperwork again.

James laughed nervously. “Alright, despite that very weird conversation, do you want to explain how you died?”

Princess grinned. “Oh, me first! Albus is my brother and a bitch and Grindelwald resulted in my death.”

Sirius blinked at her. “You’re so weird.”

She shrugged.

Lion sighed. “Voldemort split his soul so he can’t die through a process called Horcruxes and I died getting one of those out of his most complicated hiding place.”

Percy sighed. Here goes nothing. “The Gaunt Manor was the most complicated.”

Lion rolled their eyes. “Yeah, but Princess and I got in no problem.”

“That’s because you’re fucking dead.”

“And you’re fucking alive your point?”

Percy sighed and went back to work.

James blinked. “What.”

Lily was staring at him. “What the fuck?”

Sirius was also staring. “Oh so that’s not normal?”

Princess shrugged. “Scarlet, Percy to you, is our brother too. I’ll punch you again!”

Percy sighed. “Stop punching Sirius. We need him to help Cedric keep an eye on Harry and Ron.”

Princess frowned. “Can’t we get Gideon or Bilius to do it?”

Percy shook his head. “No, they’re watching the twins and William. Now all of you get out, I need to do this and figure out how to get my hands on Nagini.”

Lion gladly took this opportunity and dragged Sirius and James out of the room. Lily stopped Princess from doing the same.

She stared at Percy. “Are you alright?”

Percy looked up at her. “I miss my friends, I miss my family, the only people I can trust are technically dead and the Ministry is being taken over by Death Eaters who all rely on me to do the paperwork. It’s the new normal, really, Miss Lily.”

She stared a bit more. “Be careful.”

Percy snorted. “Or what, I’ll die?”

Lily stared at him in shock as Princess pulled her out with a frown.

Percy sighed. Back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is late but also long? Not sure how that happened?


	9. Albus Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this is late! Classes are starting and it's been a bit of a mess :/

When Percy was twenty, Dumbledore appeared.

Percy, on the one hand, was trying to keep control in the Ministry.

On the other hand, Dumbledore was now talking with an angry James in an empty office, and Percy really wanted to see what would happen when Lily and Princess arrived.

Lion snorted from next to him. “Do you think Princess will make good use of that bat Gideon got her?”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “I really hope so.”

Dumbledore’s voice got a bit louder. “Have you seen a young girl around? I’ve been looking for her. My mother said that she’s been here in the Veil, refusing to go to the Beyond and interact with the rest of the family.”

James smirked. “Oh, I’ve seen her around. Long ringlets of hair, right?”

Sirius crept up to sit next to Lion on the desk. “I can’t believe he hasn’t noticed us yet. Then again, he hasn’t realized how angry everyone is either.”

Lion shifted slightly away from Sirius, but not as much as they once would have. Percy hid a smile into his hand.

James scoffed. “Why would you even have Snape kill you when you could still help?”

Dumbledore looked unapologetic. “I was hit with a curse, and I was going to die anyways.”

Percy snorted. “He found what used to be a Horcrux, and although it’s not a Horcrux it still had a curse on it so he fucking put it on.”

Lion shrugged. “Pretty sure it was also the resurrection stone.”

Percy frowned. “It didn’t do anything, though?”

Sirius snorted. “That’s because you’re already a resurrection stone. And a better one, because you can cross the Veil boundary, not just see through it.”

Percy nodded. “That’s why Lady Helga always cackled about me breaking the laws of the universe.”

Sirius whipped his head around to stare at him. “Helga said _what_?”

The three of them were distracted by Lily’s sudden approach.

“Oh, here we go,” Lion whispered with a huge grin.

Lily smacked Dumbledore across the face.

Princess pressed up against Percy’s side. “Oh good, I made it just in time.”

Lily glared at Dumbledore. “What were you thinking? Letting my son attempt to sacrifice himself over and over for the fucking greater good!”

Sirius giggled. “Ooooo…”

Princess grinned and yelled, “Want to use my bat?”

Lily turned to Princess and smiled. “Yes please.”

Dumbledore frowned. “Ariana? Sirius? Regulus? And…”

He stared at Percy.

Percy waved. “Hello.”

Dumbledore’s face turned to something resembling sadness. “I am sorry to hear of your passing, child.”

Percy snorted. “Not a child, and not dead.”

Dumbledore startled. “What?”

Princess cheerfully tossed her bat towards Lily. Lily grabbed it and turned back to Dumbledore.

Lily glared. “This boy is the only reason I have not yet burned all of the Veil and the Beyond to the ground. He has gotten his hands on the majority of the Horcruxes, and destroyed them, without your precious help. I trust him far more than I have ever trusted you, and considering he’s only twenty that’s a very big deal.”

Dumbledore’s gaze went to Princess.

She shrugged. “Scarlet’s my brother now. It’s not my doing that you couldn’t see the resemblance when we’ve been together his entire life.”

Lion raised a hand. “Same here. Except we all know you don’t care about anyone unless they are useful to you and you can control them, so…”

Percy laughed. “You never could control me. You never even tried much. Your loss.”

Dumbledore turned to James.

James smiled sadly. “You let Sirius get arrested. You let Remus fall to ruin. You let Harry be hurt and presume the world was upon his shoulders.”

Lily swung Princess’s bat.

Percy smiled and left the room, hiding a smile.

Umbridge stopped him. “Mister Weasley, what are you doing?”

Percy grinned. “Haven’t you heard, ma’am? Dumbledore is dead.”

* * *

When Percy was twenty-one, Mad-Eye Moody appeared.

He showed up when Percy was pacing his office. He was muttering something.

Percy continued pacing.

Moody mumbled some more, and ended up blurting out, “How am I supposed to get him to go to his apartment?”

Percy stopped pacing and glared at him. “You fucking ask, Auror. How else would you.”

Moody stared at him.

Percy rolled his eyes and took the Floo back to his appartment.

Traveling there revealed the reason Moody had been sent for him.

Percy stared at everyone. “Oh. Hello?”

Penelope, Marcus, and Oliver glared at him from his couch. Lion, Princess, Uncle Gideon, Oma, Grandmother Cedrella and Uncle Bilius stood behind them.

Penelope grinned. “Hello Percy! This is an intervention!”

Percy blinked. “What?”

Marcus sighed and pointed above him. There was a multi-color, glittery banner reading: **_Remember You’re Actually Still Alive!_**

Percy frowned. “What the fuck!”

Oliver stood. “Well, Percy, have you noticed any abnormal aches and pains recently?”

Percy shrugged. “I’ve been getting some stomach aches, and some headaches, but I figured they were from stress.”

Penelope spread her arms. “Nope! Or at least not only that!”

Marcus rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you ate something?”

Percy blinked. “Oh.”

Oliver grabbed his arm. “Also, sleep is important for living humans!”

Percy let him drag him away to his room. “Okay. What about the Horcruxes?”

Penelope rolled her eyes. “Your youngest brothers and their friend have been looking for them, but I’ve been keeping them safe. You need rest, otherwise the ghosts won’t be able to back anyone up!”

Percy nodded. “Fair enough.”

Oliver dragged him over to the bed and pushed him into it. The dead all followed them into the room.

Lion sighed. “We’ve got an intervention for you too.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Is it different than the other one.”

Princess waved her hand. “Eh, kind of? Instead of ‘don’t forget you’re alive’, it’s ‘don’t forget you’ve got a ghost army at your disposal and you don’t have to do this alone’.”

Percy stared. “…I’ve been doing that?”

Oma and Grandmother Cedrella traded looks. Uncle Gideon leaned forward. “Percy, you realize you’ve been basically assigning yourself all the major tasks? Other than us acting as lookouts?”

Percy narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like a James thing to say. Where is James?”

Uncle Bilius chuckled. “We knew you’d freak if no one was on look out duty, so James, Lily, Sirius, the founders, Pandora, and Cedric, plus a couple others, are covering for us so we can talk to you.”

Oma sat on the bed next to Percy and began to run her fingers through his hair like she used to, and like Mum had done before the twins were born.

Percy sighed. “I’ll try my best. We still have to figure out what to do about Harry being a Horcrux, though.”

Marcus interrupted Percy’s focus on the ghosts with a laugh. “Get some sleep Perce, and then we’ll get some food in you, and _then_ we’ll figure it out. You’ve got the ghosts, and you’ve also got us.”

Penelope grinned and threw herself onto the bed next to him. “Besides, we broke Gamp’s Law when we were twelve! We reinvented Metamorphangi to help Marcus transition! Oliver broke the speed of sound on a broomstick! Old Voldy Moldy’s got nothing on us!”

Percy smiled. “Yeah, he doesn’t."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left!


	10. Fred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it a thing that my last chapter always ends up, like, at least three times longer than I expect it? This is actually _four_?
> 
> Anyways, have a semi-happy ending? Hopeful?

When Percy was twenty one, Fred appeared.

Of course, that wasn’t all that was going on.

The day (so to speak) started with Percy getting woken up by an owl just as he went to bed.

Princess bounced up and down as he got up. “It’s from Aberforth. Something must have happened at Hogwarts. I expect Lily or someone will be showing up soon.”

Lion faked a pout. “Aw, are you replacing me already?”

Princess shoved him. Lion laughed.

Percy opened the letter.

It was from Aberforth. He said that Death Eaters were in the area, and planning on taking the castle soon. He suspected Snape would try to flee.

Percy frowned. Snape probably would flee, but to attempt to continue to do Albus’s bidding once more. Someone would have to stop him, and it would probably be Percy.

He sighed. “Death Eaters are rearing to go. We’ve got to contain Snape and get to Harry. We know the apparition blind spot in the middle of the Forbidden Forest; we’ll go there.

Lion and Princess nodded. “We’ll get everyone else there on high guard.”

Percy nodded back and apparated.

* * *

Percy appeared in the middle of the Forbidden Forest to Lady Rowena waiting for him.

Technically Albus was there too, but everyone tended to just ignore him at this point.  


Lady Rowena smiled at him. “Nice to see you, Percy.”

Percy smiled back. “Nice to you see you too, Lady Rowena. Where is Snape?”

Lady Rowena frowned. “I’ve told you to call me Rowena, dear. And right this way, to the Shrieking Shack.”

Percy sighed. “Honestly, the Shrieking Shack? Let’s go.”

The walked through the forest together. Lady Rowena nudged him. “It’s been a great help, being able to do something during this war. We’re all very grateful.”

Percy smiled wryly. “Hey, I’m getting a lot of help out of this too. Don’t worry about it. It has benefited both of us.”

Lady Rowena nodded. “Your sister has been doing well. Neville has really come into his own these days as well.”

Percy huffed. “I’m not surprised. Neville has always had potential, he just had to figure out what his strengths were.”

They reached the Shrieking Shack. Lady Rowena shot Percy a look. “You best stay outside.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “I’ll be fine. I can just pull myself into the Veil.”

Lady Rowena glared. “And what if you cannot get yourself back out of the Veil?”

Percy pouted.

Lady Rowena sighed. “Fine. But only for a moment.”

Percy grinned and pulled himself into the Veil. He hugged Lady Rowena.

Lady Rowena patted his head. “Let’s get to it, shall we?”

They walked through the wall and into the Shack.

Fuck, Riddle was about to kill Snape with Nagini.

Lily was in the corner, actively glaring. She shot Percy a look. “Help me stop the fucking snake! Snape isn’t going to die until after I’ve completed my list of grievances with him!”

Percy shot some energy at her and sighed. “Fair enough. I’ll knock him out.”

Lily punched the snake in the nose. Percy took the bat Lady Rowena handed him and whacked Snape with it.

He handed it back to her. “Does everyone have a bat now?”

Lady Rowena took it shook her head. “No, but Helga insisted I carry her’s with me tonight. She and Godric have swords, so I’m not too worried.”

Riddle and Nagini left the Shack. Lily smirked. “Fuck yeah.”

Albus screeched. “No! Now there’s no one to explain to Harry what he needs to do! And all my progress on the Horcruxes is gone!”

Percy, Lily, and Lady Rowena all rolled their eyes. Percy sighed. “Harry is not going to kill himself. We can wait until he’s nice and old before that happens. Also, we’ve already destroyed all of the other Horcurxes but Nagini. Please fuck off.”

Albus almost said something again but was cut off by Princess bursting through the door. “Albus,” she said murderously.

Albus left.

Princess skipped over. “You should go back to the normal plane now. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on their way. Something about Snape’s memories or some bullshit Albus fed them.”

Percy sighed and concentrated. He pulled himself back into the normal plane and nearly collapsed from the feel of having a soul filled body once more.

Princess caught him. “Be careful, Scarlet! I’m glad we don’t have to deal with that when we get pulled through!”

Percy rolled his eyes. “That’s because you’re still dead, just dead on a different plane. I go from being technically dead on one plane to being alive on another plane.”

They all turned to the door as Harry burst in.

He stared. “Wha—”

Percy smiled. “Hello Harry. Sit down, would you? It won’t take long.”

Harry remained standing. “What are you doing here?”

Percy gestured to Snape. “Preventing him from dying. It wasn’t time.”

Lily snorted.

Harry spluttered. “What is going on?!”

Ron and Hermione ran in. Hermione glared, but Ron just stared.

He reached out. “Percy?”

Percy smiled at him. “Hello Ron. As I told Harry, please sit down. We need to go over a few things and then I need to fight.”

Hermione was about to say something when Ron sat down. She reluctantly sat down as well, with Harry following.

Percy smiled. “Good. Now, the only real Horcrux left is Nagini.”

Hermione glared. “No, there’s seven. Even if you managed to destroy all the others, there’s still one left.”

Percy waved her off. “Yes, that’s Harry. We can deal with that when he’s older.”

Harry screeched. “What?!”

Hermione muttered, “…it makes sense.”

Ron stared. “I thought you were too busy in the Ministry to give a fuck about any of us? And how come you like Harry again?”

Percy sighed. “The Ministry had a very high likelihood of being taken over by Death Eaters. In order to stay with them, I had to stay separate from you all from early on. That way I could still keep you safe, especially when you do stupid things like break into Gringotts. I’m back now, and I’m sorry for being a jerk. I did it because it helped me blend in. I will let you know if I endeavor to do something similar in the future.”

Ron diddled a bit. “I accept your apology. I kind of abandoned Hermione and Harry for a bit.”

Percy glared at him. “Ron, you are seventeen, under considerable amounts of stress, and you willingly rejoined them. You have nothing to apologize for.”

He stood. Ron was blushing faintly. Hermione was concentrated on something. Harry was confused.

“How do you know all of this?” Harry stood and walked over to Percy. “Were you in league with Dumbledore or—”

Percy put a finger over Harry’s mouth. “The only Dumbledores we acknowledge are Aberforth and Ariana. Don’t worry about it, kid.”

Harry pouted. “What about Sirius’s brother? Where did he put the Horcrux?”

Percy smiled. “Regulus gave it to Kreacher. Kreacher was willing to accept my help to destroy it on his master’s last orders.”

Harry almost said something but shut his mouth again. Hermione seemed to be in a trance. Ron was near tears.

Percy sighed. “Okay. I’m going to go fight some Death Eaters. Would you all like to join me?”

Ron and Hermione got to their feet and followed Harry after Percy. Unseen to the trio, they were also followed by Lady Rowena, Lily, and Princess.

They reached Hogwarts. Percy turned to them. “Alright. All of you, be careful. If I see any of you dead I will be very visibly disappointed hiding real upset feelings. Good day.”

Percy headed for one of Lord Salazar’s passages. Lady Rowena and Princess followed.

* * *

Percy emerged into a room filled with the remains of the Order.

Also his living family. That was a thing.

He sighed. “Of course. Life hates me, how could I forget.”

Princess tilted her head. “Probably because you keep breaking the laws of the universe.”

Percy glared. “Fuck Gamp’s Law.”

Someone approached him. “Percy? Are you alright?”

Percy looked. Oh, William.

“Hello William. I am sorry for not notifying you of my presence at your wedding. I did come, but I had to leave when Thickinese died. Fleur is lovely and I’d love to get to know her. I am also sorry to all of you for my general being a jerk. Mum, I really wanted to keep the sweater, but know that I kept all of my past sweaters. When they haven’t been stolen by various people I associate with.”

Princess raised an eyebrow. “You mean your friends?”

Percy subtly shot her a look. Princess should well remember what the family thought he was like, and how he could not just say friends without raising doubts of him being the real Percy.

Princess winced. “Right. My bad.”

Lady Rowena frowned. “What was that about?”

Sirius passed over the Order members and came to stand in front of Percy. “Tell them the plan is stupid and they should not split up.”

Percy glared at the Order. “Bloody hell, you were thinking about splitting up? No wonder you all died.”

Moody grumbled from the corner. Percy ignored him. It wasn’t Percy’s fault that he hadn’t noticed Percy talking to himself just in the other room.

Mum took a few steps forward. “Percy?”

Percy winced. “Hello Mum. Really sorry about that.”

Fred grinned. “Glad to have you back! So you’re fighting with us? You sure you can do it?”

Percy glared at him. “Fred, I love you, but I’ve been dealing with people cursing me since first year. Don’t worry about me.”

William’s hand grabbed his shoulder. “Who cursed you?”

Percy shoved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Oliver and Marcus beat them up.”

William glared. “Big brother privileges. Who.”

Percy rolled his eyes. “They got permission from Charles to beat them up, and I’ll tell you after we win this if you don’t mind.”

Kingsley sighed. “Alright. Try to stick together. Stay as safe as you can.”

Percy walked out the door.

* * *

Several minutes and many flying curses later, Percy found himself fighting in a corridor with William, Fleur, Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, and Harry.

Technically Lion and Princess were there as well, but for the most part they just warned Percy of incoming spells.

Of course, all of his siblings kept trying to talk with him.

“Man Percy, nice you finally got your head out of your ass!”

Percy glared at Princess, who tried to smack Ginny’s head. “Okay, Ginny.”

George grinned. “We should join Wood and Bell and Angelina flying around attacking. That’d be fun to do together!”

William frowned and knocked out a death eater with a spell. “Wood was your captain, right?”

Percy turned to William. “You don’t remember Oliver?”

William blanched. “Wait, your Oliver was their quidditch captain?”

“Yes William, who else would it have been?”

William turned to their younger siblings. “I am sorry I ever took your complaining about practices lightly.”

Percy threw his hands up. “I’m sorry, William, but there’s no other Gryffindor boys in our year! Did you think I was the fucking quidditch captain?”

Fred started at him and laughed. “Holy shit, did you just make a joke, Perce? I haven’t heard you joke since—”

The wall blasted open.

Percy hit the floor and sent a bunch of energy toward Princess and Lion. They tackled Ron and the twins, the closest of everyone to the wall, down.

They all lay in the rubble.

Percy sat up. Why did Lion and Princess feel weird all of a sudden?

Oh, George was sitting over Fred. Crying.

Oh, Fred was starting to feel empty.

Oh, _hell no_.

Percy gripped onto Fred’s soul with all he had. “Stay, stay, stay…”

Lion placed a hand on his shoulder. “Scarlet…”

Percy knew. Merlin, he knew that Fred was already dead. He knew holding him back wouldn’t make much of a difference. He knew what it felt like when people died, damnit.

But it was _Fred_.

He let go.

Princess and Lion hugged him.

Fuck, he was crying.

“NO!”

Oh, there went George.

Percy crawled over to them. He grabbed onto George.

He turned to glare at Percy. “Oh, you—”

Percy pulled him in for a hug.

William and Ron made to help Harry move Fred’s body out of the way. Ginny was clutching onto Fleur like her life depended on it. Cedric appeared in the corner of his eye, alongside a familiar redhead.

Percy clutched George close once more and stood.

He walked away.

Lion tapped his shoulder. “Scarlet? Are you aware you are sending us energy?”

Someone called his name. He turned the corner.

“Yeah, Lion, I’m aware.”

Princess grabbed his other shoulder. “Hey, here comes Oliver.”

Percy started running down the hallway. He ran into something.

Someone was calling his name again.

“What’s going on?”

Percy looked up at Oliver. Marcus was leaning over his shoulder.

“Fred’s dead.”

They exchanged glances. “Oh.”

Penelope rounded a corner, dueling a death eater. “A little help here!”

Marcus and Oliver unsheathed their wands and nudged Percy to stand upright on his own. Princess and Lion both stepped in to help keep him up.

Percy could feel the death eater. He wasn’t empty like Fred.

Maybe Percy could empty him?

Percy reached out a hand an concentrated. He pulled at the energy inside the death eater, adding it to his own energy reserves.

The death eater started screaming.

Percy kept going. He got all the energy and crushed it like a muggle soda can.

The death eater collapsed.

Penelope stared at him. “Did you just kill someone?”

Percy shrugged. “No. Pretty sure I nearly destroyed his soul though.”

They all stared at him.

There was a clattering behind them all. Percy could see that Lady Helga had knocked a bunch of weapons over in her haste to go someplace, likely to fight.

Oliver, Penelope, and Marcus turned around.

All three of them stared at Lady Helga.

Penelope pointed to her. “Holy shit! You’re Lady Helga!”

Lady Helga nodded. “Yes. Do you want one of my swords? I seemingly have too many.”

Percy turned to Lion and Princess. They were staring at him.

Lion pulled out his wand and his sword from Lady Helga. “You’re making us visible.”

Percy nodded. “Good. Let’s go then.”

He stumbled towards the Great Hall, and Riddle.

Oliver yelled behind him, “What the fuck, why did no one teach us that Lady Helga isn’t white? I could have had such a badass role model!”

* * *

In hindsight, maybe Percy should have realized that he was sending all the dead energy.

It was also concerning how he seemed to be feeling every single soul in the entire school.

It was also concerning that he might have _completely extinguished a soul_.

He could worry about that later.

Percy stumbled slightly. Lion and Princess lunged to catch him.

It was nice to have them with him. Especially because they had changed their appearances to match his own age.

The three of them fell to the ground together.

Lion muttered under their breath. “Damn. You need a break.”

Percy shook his head. “Nope. We need to kill Nagini and Riddle.”

Princess glared. “You just watched your brother die. As evidenced from the fact that apparently we’re all visible and tangible now, you are not in a good state of mind.”

Percy shrugged. “Oh well. Can we go destroy people?”

Princess and Lion exchanged looks. Lion sighed. Princess held out her hand.

Percy took it.

Lion grinned, letting sludge drip onto the floor. “Let’s go destroy Riddle, then.”

* * *

Percy slammed open the doors to the Great Hall to absolute chaos.

Riddle was cowering away from Lily, James, Sirius, and some other people Percy couldn’t recognize. Neville was swinging Gryffindor’s sword alongside Lord Godric, Lady Helga, and Lady Rowena. He had apparently cut off Nagini’s head.

Percy huffed. “Good for him."

William, Mum, Dad, the twins, Ron, and Ginny seemed to be involved in fighting Bellatrix. Harry was staring at those battling Riddle, with Cedric crouched over him. Cho Chang was next to them.

Oh, Lord Salazar was cackling. He must be the source of the random explosions everywhere.

Fred and George spotted him at the same time. “Percy!”

Percy startled slightly as most people looked at him. “Hello.”

Hermione appeared at his side to pull him over to where most of the family was. “The dead are here, do you know of any magic that could cause this?”

Percy opened his mouth to say somehting, but was interuppted by Lion running past him.

Lion waved at Lord Godric and Lady Helga. “Hey! Can I have something? I need to beat up Bella!”

Lord Godric waved and tossed a bat over. Sirius came rushing over from Riddle.

“You don’t get to fight Bella without me!”

Lion grinned. “Ha, you already got to fight her, and she killed you. It’s my turn now.”

Sirius pouted. Bellatrix frowned.

“Regulus?”

Lion smirked and lifted his bat. “Hello, Bella! We’ve got to catch up! Especially in regards to how you’ve treated Cissa!”

Draco Malfoy looked over from across the room. “What the fuck?”

Percy stumbled past the twins to Harry. He grabbed his head.

Harry tried to protest. Percy glared.

“Don’t move. I’ve only done this once before. I don’t want to kill you too.”

Princess knelt next to him. “Hi Harry! I’m Ariana Dumbledore! Albus fucking sucks and I’m sorry he’s been gaslighting you for ages!”

Harry frowned. “What—”

Percy concentrated.

He could feel the two separate souls. One of them was much smaller and much, ah, crueler than the other. He could target that then.

He dragged the energy out of that specific piece. After that, it was quite easy to pull it away and toss it.

He opened his eyes.

Everyone was silent and staring at them.

Percy frowned. “What?”

Ginny waved her arms. “You were both glowing, and then you stopped. But your eyes are still glowing. They’ve been glowing since you came in here.”

Lion smiled, apparently having moved next to him. “Don’t worry, Scarlet, it looks pretty badass.”

Percy smiled back. “Thanks Lion. Is Riddle dead?”

Princess smirked from his other side. “Lily and James were very angry and assisted by many others.”

Percy sighed. “Good. Thanks, Princess.”

His vision got hazy. It went black to the sound of people yelling his name.

* * *

Percy blinked aware again to the sound of people talking over him.

He opened his eyes to see Princess and Lion staring at him.

Once they saw he was awake, they grinned. Lion nudged him. “How are you feeling?”

Percy tried to shrug.

Princess chuckled. “Yeah, fair enough. You somehow managed to pull all of us into the plane of reality for a long time. I’m proud of you.”

Percy smiled. “Thanks Princess,” he mumbled.

Someone else shook his shoulder. “Percy?!”

Percy turned to see Mum there staring at him. “Hi Mum.”

Mum sobbed. “Oh, thank Merlin.”

Percy blinked. “What’s the matter?”

Harry appeared on his other side. “You did something to me. It made me no longer a Horcrux?”

Percy snorted. “Oh, I destroyed the part of Riddle’s soul in you.”

Harry frowned. “How come you know his name is Riddle?”

Percy sighed. “Lord Salazar told me. He’s very pissed off at him.”

There was a thud from behind Lion and Princess.

Percy frowned. He couldn’t see what had happened.

Lion turned to him. “William just slammed his hand on the table.”

Percy tilted his head. “Why? William, are you okay?”

William appeared next to Harry, Lion and Princess moving over above Percy’s head. “Percy, your imaginary friends from when you were little, Princess and Lion, right?”

Percy frowned. “Yeah, what about them?”

“They’re real? And they’re dead people?”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Yes, of course? Did you not see them?”

William face palmed.

A voice spoke from beyond the foot of the bed. “Really, Lion and Princess?”

Percy glared. “I was around two and three when I came up with them, cut me some slack.”

Everyone stared at him.

Percy raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Pandora sighed. She had sat down at the foot of his bed at some point. “Honey.”

Percy glared. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t see who had spoken. He had just woken up from unconsciousness and was kind of out of it, so sue him!

Also ghosts. Ghosts were in the way. Stupid dead people. Couldn’t they go be dead somewhere else?

Lily sighed and moved out of the way.

Oh, Fred was standing there. He must have said it.

Oh, _Fred_.

Percy nearly fell on his head trying to get out of bed.

Uncle Gideon caught him. “Be careful, Percy. We can’t have you joining us yet.”

The living people were still staring at him. George stepped forward. “Percy?”

Percy grabbed George’s hand and reached out for Fred.

Fred shuffled in place. “Perce—”

Percy smiled threateningly. “Get over here.”

Fred came over. Percy grabbed his hand and put it in George’s.

Fred and George both teared up. George turned to Percy. “Perce—”

Percy shushed him. “Hold on, let me get from Fred why he’s trying to avoid me first.”

George inhaled. Fred sighed.

“We kind of misjudged you. We thought you were weird and stuck up, but you ended up being the turning force and defeating Voldemort, basically for us.”

Percy glared at him. “That’s bullshit. I am weird, it comes with the seeing bloody dead people since I was little. Also, yeah it hurt some when we were younger, but I was able to use it to my advantage in war time, so don’t worry about it.”

Father cleared his throat. “Is there any particular reason you didn’t tell us about the dead?”

Percy shrugged. “I mean, I knew Uncle Bilius was dead because he appeared at breakfast one day. Also, Charles knows. I never told him they were the dead, but he knew I never stopped seeing Princess and Lion. And Oliver and Marcus and Penelope.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of them, they said they’d meet you at your apartment with a new banner?”

Percy groaned. “I possibly permanently destroy one soul and they stage another intervention. Marcus has never had an intervention.”

Lion winced. “Well…”

Percy nodded. “True. That time we found out about how his parents used the Crutatius on his brother. Penelope then. We’ve had interventions for Oliver’s quidditch, but nothing for how Penelope created fission outside the sun and somehow survived.”

Princess giggled. “Fair enough.”

Ron sighed. “Is this somehow normal for you?”

Percy frowned. “Yes? I literally avoid my problems until it helps me. I pretended I couldn’t see James and Lily until after Sirius died because I didn’t want to deal with that.”

Oma and Grandmother Cedrella chuckled. Uncle Bilius sighed and slouched in his chair.

Hermione frowned. “So Princess is Ariana Dumbledore?”

Percy nodded. “And Lion is Regulus Black.”

She continued frowning. “They both seemed rather…dead. Are you alright with seeing them? It seems like it would get a bit annoying, dealing with them all the time.”

Percy smiled. “Please, they’re like older siblings. They’re family. Not sure what I’d do without them, honestly.”

He fell back onto his bed. Princess and Lion drifted into sight above him. 

Percy smiled up at the two of them. 

“You’re the best.”

Lion ruffled his hair and laughed. “We know.”

Princess smiled. “Love you too, Scarlet-top.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...I'm going to leave it here.
> 
> There are a lot of similarities between Regulus and Percy. Also, Ariana deserved better and I’m still mad at Dumbledore. :)
> 
> Thanks for sticking around! I hope you enjoyed! I will be back with more of these characters, promise :)

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you that know me - hi, yes, this is not my usual fandom, but I wrote some stuff and might as well post it.
> 
> Updates Saturdays!!
> 
> My [Tumblr](https://flowergrownwritesrandomly.tumblr.com), I post fics/updates about every Friday, and sometimes Sundays (might not be your fandom though). Come say hi!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome! (Or not, really, I did not mean to write this, so this is all for fun, but validation is always nice)


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